


Brooklyn Heights

by karaluvsketchup



Series: Blue BlAvengers [2]
Category: Blue Bloods (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Well the first chapter is kind of during, anyway it's part 2 of my Marvel AU of Blue Bloods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-18 17:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10621326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karaluvsketchup/pseuds/karaluvsketchup
Summary: This time, the superhero-related wreckage is two hundred miles away, but the Reagans still have some aftermath to deal with. (Post Captain America: The Winter Soldier Blue Bloods Crossover AU)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second Blue-Bloods-characters-in-the-MCU fic! There will be a few references to the first one (previously titled Blue BlAvengers but it's called Midtown now), but this pretty much stands alone.

Erin’s sitting in her office reading a briefing when her phone rings. “ADA Reagan,” she answers.

“Hi, sweetheart,” comes a familiar voice on the other end of the line.

“Hi, dad, What’s up?”

“Would you be able to get away from the office for an hour or so this afternoon and come over to one PP?” Frank asks.

Her schedule’s pretty clear today. “Yeah, sure. What’s this about?”

“I just need to talk to you and your brothers about something, I’ll tell you when you get here.”  The way he says it tells Erin that it’s something heavy, though she can’t guess exactly what might be. It’s already been an unusual day, not necessarily in New York, but certainly in Washington with the helicarriers crashing into the Potomac, accompanied by a massive release of government documents, but she’s not sure what that would have to do with them. 

She lets her assistant know that she’s leaving for a while, and walks over to the Police headquarters building. “ADA Reagan,” Detective Baker greets her when the elevator doors slide open on the 14th floor. “You can go on in, the Commissioner will be with you in a moment.” She opens the door for Erin, and she walks on into the office. Danny’s already there, and she gives him a questioning glance.

“I just got here a minute ago, haven’t seen Dad yet,” he tells her.

Jamie comes in a few minutes later, in uniform. “I think Eddie’s developing a complex about me getting summoned away in the middle of tour,” he jokes, then, as he takes a seat next to Erin on the couch, he adds more seriously, “do you guys have any idea why we’re here?”

Danny shrugs, and Erin says, “What he told me is that he needs to talk to us about something.”

“Something that couldn’t wait until the end of the day?” Jamie wonders out loud, as the door to the conference room opens, and Frank steps in.

“I’m sorry about the dramatics calling you all here in the middle of the day, I just wanted to make sure that you hear this from me first, in case word gets out,” he explains. He goes to the main door to the office, opens it a crack, tells Baker that they’re going to need five or ten minutes, and finally takes a seat in his usual chair to the left of the couch. “I’m sure you’ve all aware of the leak of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files this morning.”

“Yeah.” Danny says, and Erin and Jamie nod.

“Our intelligence division immediately started combing through those files, with the main objective being uncovering any links between Hydra and the NYPD. The full investigation is going to take months, but their initial analysis did reveal the names of at least a hundred NYPD officers, current and former, with ties to Hydra.” Frank pauses for a moment, before adding, “Sonny Malevsky was on that list.”

Erin’s mouth involuntarily drops open, and Danny swears under his breath.. “Was it just Malevsky, or the whole Blue Templar?” Jamie asks.

“I don’t have a clear answer on that yet, Jamie,” Frank answers. “Though two other former detectives who are doing time for their involvement with the Blue Templar also came up in the files as Hydra operatives.”

There’s a brief silence as they all process that, which is then broken by a knock at the door. “Yes?” Frank calls out, and Baker opens the door again.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but we have another document from the S.H.I.E.L.D. files that’s highly relevant.” She walks over and hands Frank a folder with a thin stack of papers in it. The three younger Reagans wait as Frank skims the first few pages.

“What is it, Dad?” Danny asks when Frank looks up.

“Transcripts of several phone conversations between Detective Malevsky and a mid-level Hydra agent.” Frank hands the folder to Erin, who’s closest to him, and Jamie leans over to look while Danny goes around to the back of the couch to read over her shoulder. “Discussing Joe.”

****************

She can tell from Danny’s face that whatever the meeting with his dad was about, it wasn’t good, but Maria still asks, “Everything alright, Reagan?”

He puts his gun away in his desk drawer and drops down in his chair. “Yeah,” he says absently, then changes his mind. “No. It turns out that my brother Joe’s death was related to all this Hydra stuff.”

“Danny, I’m sorry.” This is bound to be bringing back bad memories for him. Maria knows what happened to Joe, that he’d been killed in the line of duty, shot while executing a warrant. That two years later Danny and his family uncovered that he was really murdered by a dirty cop because he was helping the FBI investigate a secret society within the NYPD. That’s what was in the papers, combined with a few more details that made their way into the police department grapevine. Danny doesn’t really have a problem with talking about Joe, but when he does bring up his middle brother, it’s always memories from his life, not the circumstances of his death.

“The FBI investigation was looking at the Blue Templar, but Malevsky, the guy who pulled the trigger, he was also a Hydra operative,” Danny explains. “Joe got too close, the higher-ups in Hydra got worried that he’d uncover something a lot bigger than a bunch of detectives stealing drug money, and an order came down for him to be killed. The whole conversation was in the leaked S.H.I.E.L.D. files.”

“Do they know who this Hydra higher-up is?” Maria wonders.

“Just a code-name so far, but my dad assures me that Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism’s all over this, and Internal Affairs. I’m supposed to let them handle it.” Danny sounds frustrated, but like he’s resigned himself to stay out of it for now at least. “We at least had closure, you know. And now we don’t again,” he adds, shaking his head.

“Anything I can do?” she offers.

He sighs. “Well, Baez, you can tell me you’ve made some progress on  _ our _ case.”

Maria smiles, and clicks to a window on her computer that she’d had just waiting for his return. “That, I can do.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may think that this chapter has little to nothing to do with chapter one of the fic, apart from both being CATWS-related... well that's kind of true. Anyway, Sam and Steve are here, so enjoy!

“It feels good to be back in Brooklyn,” Steve says, smiling at Sam in the passenger seat next to him as he pulls off the parkway coming away from JFK Airport. It’s nine in the evening and they’ve just gotten back stateside after chasing a series of dead ends in Europe. “Though I can’t say I ever spent much time in Bay Ridge,” he adds. They’re now driving on a broad two-lane street with a series of apartment buildings on one side and a view across the bay to the lights of Staten Island on the other.

“So, do you actually know the commissioner?” Sam asks. “Or is your being Captain America enough for him to accept us just showing up at his house unannounced?”

“We’ve met a few times, but we mostly know each other by reputation. Anyway, this will be the best way to keep what we’re doing under the radar, and I think he’ll at least hear us out.”

“Well, I guess it worked on me,” Sam says. And it did work, it’s been a month since Steve showed up on Sam’s doorstep, and just look how that turned out. Of course, they’re in not quite as desperate of a situation as Steve and Natasha were at that point, but Bucky could be, and they have a fairly solid lead that he’s in the city.

After a few blocks of winding through the residential neighborhood, Steve parks the car across the street from a stately brick house. “Alright, let’s do this,” Sam says, and they climb out of the car and walk up to the house.

****************

There’s a knock at the front door, which is a little strange this time of night. Henry would think that it’s one of his grandkids dropping by, except they would just let themselves in. “You expecting somebody, Francis?” he calls toward the kitchen as he gets up from his chair in the living room to answer the door.

“No, pop,” Frank calls back. Henry opens the door and finds himself face-to-face with Captain America, and, standing behind him, another man who he’s pretty sure is the fella with the wings who was helping him out in Washington last month. 

“We’re sorry to show up at your home like this,” the Captain says. “I’m Steve Rogers, and this is Sam Wilson.”

“I know who you are,” Henry affirms, and shakes their hands. “I’m Henry Reagan, but I presume you’re here to see my son.” Captain Rogers nods. “Well, come on in, then,” Henry says. The man’s basically a national treasure, he’s not about to leave him standing on his doorstep.

The two of them step inside the house. Henry closes the door and shows them into the sun room before going to find Frank in the kitchen. “Who was it?” he asks, looking up from his laptop where he’s working at the kitchen table. 

“Captain Steve Rogers and an associate of his are waiting for you in the sun room.”

Frank’s eyebrows shoot up for a moment, then he nods thoughtfully before standing. Henry goes back to the living room with him - not that he’s necessarily party to this meeting, but it’s his home too, and he’ll be damned if he’s going to miss this.

“Commissioner Reagan,” Captain Rogers says, holding out his hand for Frank to shake.

Frank shakes his hand. “Captain Rogers, and…”

“Sam Wilson, sir,” the other man says, and he and Frank also shake hands.

“Well, have a seat,” Frank says, gesturing to the couch. They sit, Frank takes the chair closest to the couch, and Henry sits in another chair.  “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“We’re working something of a missing persons case,” Wilson explains, “and our ability to work both quickly and quietly may be a matter of life and death.”

“We could use some support from the NYPD, but we need to keep the number of people involved to a minimum, and only those who you can guarantee that we can trust. Nothing against your department, but if we were to just walk into Police headquarters, it would just be a matter of time before the wrong people know what we’re doing,” Rogers says.

Frank considers that for a moment, studying the two of them with his eyes before he speaks. “Tell me more, who is this missing person?”

Wilson looks over at Rogers, surprise evident in his eyes, like he didn’t think that Frank would actually hear them out. Rogers nods, and Wilson hands Frank a folder he’s been holding. “James Buchanan Barnes.”

Frank opens the folder and glances at the top page. “The Winter Soldier.”

“Yes.” Rogers confirms. “That is the alias he was known by, during the seventy years that he was held against his will and used as a Hydra assassin.”

“Tell us again, is this a missing person case, or a manhunt?” Henry asks, because it sure seems like it ought to be the latter.

Frank gives Henry a quick look that says,  _ Pop, let me do the talking,  _ then turns back to Rogers. “I am aware of his background. I am also aware that he is considered to be armed and extremely dangerous. If he is in fact in the City, it’s hard to justify leaving my officers in the dark about the situation.”

“For the sake of your officers, it’s better if they don’t go looking for him,” Rogers counters. “Bucky’s no longer under Hydra control, he’s on the run and so far he’s been very good at going undetected, partly because he hasn’t hurt anyone. But if he starts to feel the full force of the NYPD coming down on him, he may not be as careful. If he’s confronted, if a couple of well-meaning officers try to bring him in, it probably won’t end well.”

“If he’s stopped by a couple of my officers, who have no idea what they’re dealing with, is that going to end any better?”

“With all due respect, he’s already made it through three or four states without being stopped by police,” Wilson says.

“And _ if _ I accept the premise that it’s better to allow the two of you to take the lead on this, what are you proposing that my people do to help?”

“To start off with, at this point as far as we know Bucky could be in any of the five Boroughs, it would help us a lot to have access to surveillance, and any possible police reports to help us narrow down where exactly he might be,” Rogers says. “And if you have a detective or two who can help us out, someone who can ask some questions from behind a badge…”

“You know what?” Frank says. “I know exactly who I can put on your case.”

“And you’ve met him before, Captain,” Henry chimes in. He knows where Frank’s going with this.

****************

Steve angles his baseball cap just a little lower, hoping no one recognizes him as he walks into the restaurant, a quiet diner on a busy Manhattan street. Sam doesn’t have that problem, he doesn’t have to worry about attracting attention, though Steve suspects that that luxury isn’t going to last forever for him if they keep working together.

They’re a little earlier than their agreed upon meeting time of 9 AM, but they go ahead and sit down, asking for the table in the back corner. A few minutes later, the two detectives join them. Steve remembers meeting Danny Reagan and his brother on the day of the Chitauri invasion, though at the time he hadn’t been aware of the connection to the Commissioner, and their encounter had been brief enough that he didn’t really get a chance to get much of an impression on the man. However, from what Sam was able to dig up on the internet the night before, Reagan’s a former Marine and an experienced Detective, clearly very good at his job. His name shows up in a lot of news articles about crimes he’s closed, some of which are pretty high-profile, as well as a smaller number of articles alleging wrongdoing on his part. The worst of those have updates showing that the accusations were wrong, and the rest might indicate that he can be a hothead with a bit of an anti-authority streak, but then that could describe Steve as well.  There’s less out there about Maria Baez, but she also seems to be a solid detective, with a lot of years of experience including time on a joint task force with the FBI.

“Thank you for doing this,” Steve says once all four of them have introduced themselves.

“We’re happy to help, though we still would like to know exactly what  _ this  _ is,” Danny replies.

The waitress walks up to the table and Steve waits for her to fill their coffee cups before answering. “How much do you know about the Winter Soldier?”

“He was a part of what went down in Washington last month, some kind of Hydra assassin, but he disappeared afterword,” Danny answers. “And rumor has it that he’s actually your old friend Bucky from back in the day.”

“That’s about it.” Sam says, handing over the Winter Soldier file that Natasha gave them. “He’s on the run, and we’d really like to find him before anyone else does. We have a convenience store surveillance tape that puts him in New Brunswick, New Jersey, four days ago -”

“Robbery?” Danny asks.

“No, he was just buying a couple of bottles of water and some snacks, but the cashier realized who he was and called 911,” Sam explains. “Anyway, that’s the last confirmed sighting but we’re pretty sure he’s in New York now.”

“And you need our help finding him,” Maria says.

Steve nods. “There’s only so much I can do without drawing attention. And besides, it’s a city of eight million people, and I haven’t actually spent that much time here since the 40’s.” In some ways it seems like New York hasn’t changed, maybe will never change, but in other ways, he barely recognizes it.

“Well, if we’re going to get anywhere without going public about this, we’ll need to narrow it down more than just somewhere in the city,” Danny says. “Do you have any leads on where he’s been since he was spotted in Jersey? Any ideas about where he might go?”

Steve does have some leads to offer. “We do have some unconfirmed sightings, starting in Washington Heights two days ago, and another in Astoria, then one all the way down in Sheepshead Bay.”

Danny nods thoughtfully. “Three sightings in three different boroughs. Well, that’s a start, anyway.”

“We can follow up on those reports, reach out to some CI’s in those areas, do some canvassing and maybe we’ll get lucky,” Maria suggests. She doesn’t sound too convinced that it’ll work, but at least both the detectives seem willing to try. For the first time in three weeks, Steve feels like he might actually be close to finding what he’s looking for.

****************

Once they’ve finished with breakfast Danny and Baez go to the precinct for a little while to look over the files that Steve and Sam gave them, call around to some of their informants who have connections to the areas in question, and get organized to go out and work what leads they have. They decide to split up to cover more ground, Baez heading up to Washington Heights while Danny goes down to Sheepshead Bay. As he spends a full hour driving there, he starts to question why the Winter Soldier would even be that far down into Brooklyn, it’s not on the way to anything except maybe Coney Island, but they don’t have a lot to go on and it’s the most recent sighting, so he has to check it out.

He parks the car and goes up to the apartment of the lady who called in to say that she’d spotted the winter soldier, knocks on the door. A few moments later it opens a few inches, the chain still engaged.

“Mrs. Cohen?” Danny asks, holding up his shield so she knows he’s police.

“Yes,” Mrs. Cohen replies. She’s in her seventies, with white hair and a bright multicolored shirt.

“I’m Detective Reagan, I’d like to ask you a few questions about the tip you called in to the 61st precinct.”

“Oh yes, of course, come in,” she says, and opens the door fully.

“Can you describe the man you saw?” Danny asks once he’s stepped into the apartment.

“Well, he was a white guy, he had dark hair, about to his shoulders. Pretty tall, maybe a few inches taller than you.”

So far it fits the description. “And what was he wearing?”

“Jeans. And a t-shirt, I think it was grey.”

“A t-shirt? Did you notice anything about either of his arms?” Danny asks.

“Like a tattoo or something? I don’t think so…”

“Nothing?” He asks again. She just looks at him, confused, and now he’s pretty sure that coming down here is going to turn out to be a wild goose chase. If he was wearing a t-shirt, there’s no way she’d miss the metal arm completely. “Okay, well, tell me exactly what happened.”

He gets back to his car ten minutes later and calls Baez. “Well, the guy my lady saw wasn’t him. What about you?”

“I had a little more luck, the guy who called in was able to pick him out of the photo array, and I got him on surveillance from a bodega down the block. He was just walking down the street, though, and it was two days ago, that’s not much to go on.”

“Well that places him in the city, anyway. Did you call Rogers?”

“Yeah, he was glad to hear the news.”

“Great. Now, meet me in Queens and we can talk to the last witness together?”

“Sure.”

The afternoon’s a little more fruitful, as they establish that the Astoria sighting is also genuine and then spend a few hours on the street showing Barnes’s photo to people, a few of which say they think they saw him in the area the day before. Then Danny gets a call back from a CI who says that late last night a friend of his in Bushwick, near the border of Brooklyn and Queens, saw a guy who’s probably their guy. They had down there for some more asking around, then head back to the squad. They still don’t have any real leads on where Barnes is, but at least have three concrete locations where he has been in the last 48 hours, and maybe with Rogers and Wilson’s help they can use that trajectory to work out where he’s going.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, the first chapter took place between episodes 4x18 and 4x19 of Blue Bloods, and the rest of the fic is between 4x21 and 4x22.

Jamie has a Saturday day tour so he’s already up and more or less dressed when there’s a knock on his apartment door a little after 6 in the morning. He checks the peep hole and opens the door.

“Hey, Jamie.” It’s Melissa, a pretty brunette about his age who lives two doors down from him. “Could you do me a favor?”

“Uh, sure, what do you need?” He has some time, and she looks nervous.

“I’m probably just being paranoid… but there’s a guy sitting in the alley that goes to our parking area, and I don’t know, there’s something off about him. If you could just walk to my car with me so I don’t have to go back there alone?”

In all likelihood it’s not necessary, but Jamie respects the value of a gut feeling. “Yeah, of course, just a second.” He slips his shield into his pocket, clips his off-duty weapon to his belt, puts on a jacket before heading to the elevator with his neighbor.

They go out the front door of their building and round the corner into the alley, at which point Jamie sees the man who made Melissa nervous enough to go back upstairs and find him. The man’s dirty clothes, long, stringy hair, and the fact that he’s sitting on the ground in an alley at six in the morning say that he’s most likely homeless, but there is something about him, maybe the intensity of his gaze even as he seems to be staring at nothing, that tells Jamie that there’s something more going on.

He walks his neighbor to her car and watches her drive out past the man, then decides to go talk to him. “Hey, are you alright, bud?”

The man looks up, his piercing grey-blue eyes meeting Jamie’s own. “Fine,” he says shortly.

“I haven’t seen you around here before,” Jamie tries again.

“Haven’t been around here for decades.”

“So you lived here when you were a kid?”

“Yeah,” he replies shortly.

“You still have family in the area? Someone you can reach out to?” The man still strikes Jamie as someone to be wary of, but more than that, he’s clearly someone who could use some help.

“No. I don’t have anyone.” With that, he stands up and turns to exit the alley, grabbing a backpack that was on the ground next to him. Jamie notices that he’s wearing one black leather glove, which is a little weird, but then maybe he just lost the other one.

“Wait.” Jamie pulls out his wallet and retrieves one of his business cards, hands it to the man. “If you need help, you can call me, I’m an off-duty police officer -”

The man glances at the card, then suddenly runs away from Jamie. Jamie starts running too, following him out of the alley and a few blocks down the street, but he’s fast, too fast to catch up to. Eventually Jamie has to give up, stops on a street corner, with his hands on his knees as he catches his breath, considering whether to call it in. People who run from the police tend to have a reason to, it could mean he has a concealed weapon, or drugs, or a warrant out on him. On the other hand, it’s not like it’s illegal to refuse help, and Jamie didn’t have any reason to suspect the man had committed a crime before he ran.

He decides to leave it be, at least as far as not calling it in and making it something official. He’s still going to keep an eye out for the guy, though.

****************

For the second morning in a row, Sam and Steve get to the diner early, but this time Danny’s already there, sitting at the same table they’d been at the day before.

“Hey,” he greets them as they sit down. “My partner should be here soon, but before we get started, I actually have something else I wanted to ask you about.”

Sam looks over to Steve, who says, “go on.”

“Five years ago this month, my brother Joe was killed in the line of duty. At the time, everybody thought he was killed by a couple of lowlifes during a warrant execution, but a coupla years later we found out that he was helping the FBI with an investigation into a secret society within the NYPD, which got him murdered by a member of that organization.”

Sam doesn’t know what to say to that, except, “sorry, man.”

Danny nods and continues. “Then a month ago your friend releases all those S.H.I.E.L.D. files, and it turns out that there’s even more to it than we thought.”

“Hydra?” Steve guesses.

“Yeah. Turns out the man who did it was a member of Hydra in addition to being a member of this corrupt NYPD group.” Danny slides a folder across the table. “There’s a transcript of another member of Hydra giving the order. My dad’s got his people on it, I’ve been digging, my sister’s been digging, I know my brother Jamie’s spent a whole lot of time on it, but we’ve all hit a wall trying to figure out who this guy is, or what exactly he was worried about Joe finding out.”

Steve nods. “So you’d like us to try.”

“If you could, I don’t know, look into it, make a few calls. I know you’re busy.”

“Yeah, of course, I can call a few people, see what I can find out.” Steve says.

“Thank you,” Danny says sincerely. Sam opens the folder and sees the telephone transcript at the top of the stack, flips through the other documents - clearly a lot of time has already gone into this already, but then the Reagans don’t know Natasha, so maybe Steve can uncover something they haven’t been able to get to.

Maria walks in a few minutes later, so they get back to their main order of business. “We walked around Bushwick until one in the morning last night,” Steve tells the two detectives, “which ended up being a waste of time, it’s probably safe to assume that he’s already moved on.”

“Well, Bedford could be on the way to pretty much anywhere in Brooklyn,” Maria says, “but you’re still thinking he would have headed back west from there?”

“Yeah, if he’s looking for a familiar place, he worked at Navy Yard for a few years before he left for the Army,” Steve says, restating what he had theorized the night before. “Or he could’ve gone farther even west to Brooklyn Heights where we grew up.”

“I suppose that’s better than trying to search all of Brooklyn,” Danny says. “But we still don’t know what his state of mind is, he might not be on the way to anywhere in particular. He could have gotten on a bus to Staten Island for all we know.” 

He’s frustrated, and Sam can tell that Steve’s frustrated too. He sees so close, but thirty six hours in the city and they really don’t know what Bucky’s up to. “I know,” Steve sighs. “I wish I could give you more, but that’s the best I’ve got for now.”

“Well, the Navy Yard’s a private industrial park area now,” Danny reminds Steve, “but there’s still a decent amount of security in the area, we can ask around, pull some video surveillance.”

“And while you’re doing that we’ll see if we can dig anything up in Brooklyn Heights,” Sam says.

“You know, if he didn’t have a day tour today, I’d have my brother join you, his apartment is in Brooklyn Heights.”

****************

Coming to New York was probably a mistake.

He knows he spent most of his life as Bucky Barnes here in the city, and in some ways it feels familiar, especially in the part of Brooklyn where he is now. He knows the street grid like the back of his hand, but nothing looks right and he can’t quite remember how it’s supposed to be, so he just feels disconnected from his surroundings, if anything less like Bucky than he had been before. Maybe Brooklyn’s changed too much. Or maybe he’s just not ready.

And he knows that he’s drawing too much attention to himself despite his best efforts. The well-meaning police officer earlier this morning thankfully didn’t know who he was - if he did he wouldn’t have been offering help, he would have been drawing the handgun Bucky knew he had on his belt - but there’s no guarantee that he’ll make another clean getaway if he has another run-in with the authorities. 

Since then he’s been walking, not headed anywhere in particular, changing directions often, watching his back to make sure he’s not being followed. Without meaning to, he ends up on a riverfront boardwalk, between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge, looking out over the river. The bridges, and the water itself are familiar, at least, and that thought helps clear his head a little, though looking further across the river to Manhattan most of the buildings that define the skyline are new, jutting up around the few that his subconscious at least remembers.

No, he can’t stay here, it’s too populated, it’s too obvious, and it’s wearing at what little mental stability he’s managed to build back up. But he sure hates to leave it.

****************

“Do you have plans tonight?” Jamie asks Eddie as the two of them walk back into the precinct at the end of their tour.

“Nah, you got something in mind?”

“It’s kind of like more work, you don’t have to come,” he says.

She raises her eyebrows, interested to hear what he wants to do. “Go on…”

“I met this guy outside my building this morning, I’m not sure what was going on with him, but he’s homeless, I think, maybe a veteran. Anyway, I start talking to him, trying to see if he needs help, but he runs away when I say I’m a cop.”

“So it sounds like he  _ didn’t _ want your help.” She can see where this is going, though.

“I want to try one more time, see if I can find him again. If you’d like to come with, be my backup if I need it...”

Eddie rolls her eyes, but says, “Okay, but you’re buying me drinks afterward. Multiple drinks.” They probably won’t even find the guy, but she doesn’t mind hanging out with Jamie for a few extra hours.

After going inside and getting changed, and then fighting their way through Manhattan’s traffic, they start walking the streets of Brooklyn Heights, checking every alleyway, park bench, and doorstep for Jamie’s homeless veteran guy. “Why do you think he ran away from you, anyway?” Eddie asks as they walk.

“He honestly seemed scared.” Jamie says.

“Scared that you were going to figure out he’s doing something he shouldn’t?” Eddie shoots back. “I bet he had a weapon he didn’t want you to find out about.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, but he was on edge even before I said I was a police officer. I think there’s more to it than that. We just need to figure out what’s going on with him without spooking him again.”

“Well, first we need to find him,” she reminds him. Eddie knows Jamie has good instincts, if he’s reading someone as scared rather than hostile he’s probably right, but she does feel like he’s being overly optimistic about their chances of running into him again.

They methodically walk up and down the blocks for two and half hours, until Eddie’s really starting to wish she’d worn more comfortable shoes and even Jamie’s about ready to give up and go get some drinks. “Alright, we’ll head down to Atlantic Avenue, if we don’t see him by the time we get there we can call it a day.” Jamie says, and Eddie nods enthusiastically.

“I’m so ready for that beer that you’re buying me,” she teases.

They’re less than three blocks away from what Jamie says is the best bar in Brooklyn Heights when he puts a hand on Eddie’s arm and whispers, “Janko, wait up.” She stops, looks at him, and he looks over to the other side of the street, where, walking the same direction as them, there’s a man who looks just like Jamie described, except he’s wearing a black baseball cap now. “That’s him.”

“Okay, what do you want to do now?” she whispers back.

“I’m going to go around the block and cut him off, you stay behind him and keep him in sight.”

“Got it.” When they reach the end of that block, Jamie goes to the right while Eddie keeps going forward, matching the man’s pace but staying on the opposite side of the street. At least, until  _ he  _ crosses the street, dodging cars mid-block, and walks right up to her. Damn. She didn’t think that he had noticed her.

“You’re following me,” he states. “Why.”

She puts her hands up, trying to be as non-threatening as possible - she can see what Jamie meant about the guy seeming scared, though he also just has this weird intensity to him and she knows that he could easily overpower her. “I just want to help.”

“Are you with Steve?”

“Steve who?” Eddie says, confused.

“I saw him a few hours ago, you know, him and his other friend. They didn’t see me, obviously. You can tell him that I don’t want to be found.”

“Buddy, I honestly don’t know who this Steve you’re talking about is,” Eddie tells him.

“Really?”

“Really,” she says firmly.

“Then you’re with -” he pulls a card out of this pocket and looks at it, “Officer Jamie Reagan.”

“That’s right.”

“Does he know who I am?”

“He doesn’t. He thought maybe you were a veteran who’s had a string of bad luck.” The man makes a noncommittal jerk of the head that tells her that that’s at least close to the truth. “D’you want to tell me your name?”

“No, it’s better if you don’t know. And he can’t help me anyway.” At that point, the man looks over his shoulder, and sees Jamie coming up behind him. Knowing that he’s been spotted, Jamie jogs the last twenty feet to close the distance.

“I see you’ve met my partner,” Jamie tells the man.

“Well now I’ll tell both of you. I’m leaving the city. Forget about me.” And he pushes past Jamie and takes off running. Jamie runs after him, and so does Eddie but she doesn’t have the shoes for it and she falls behind. A minute later, Jamie backtracks to meet her.

“I can’t believe how fast he is.”

“You lost him again.”

“Yeah. What did he say to you before I got there?”

“Mostly that he doesn’t want help. And he thought I was working with somebody named Steve, I got the impression that Steve’s also looking for him.”

“Huh.” Jamie says thoughtfully.

“So what do we do now?” Eddie wonders.

“I doubt that we’re going to find him again tonight. You ready for those beers I owe you?”

She’d been looking forward to teasing him about dragging her around on a fruitless mission in exchange for the beers. Now that they’ve actually succeeded - at least in the first, finding him part of the mission - she’s going to be preoccupied with the mystery of what exactly is going on with the man. Jamie was right, there’s just  _ something  _ about him.

But yes, she is ready for some beers.


	4. Chapter 4

“How’s the case going?” Frank asks his eldest as he pours them both a pre-dinner drink on Sunday.

“Not good,” Danny says sullenly. “We know Barnes  _ was _ in the city, but our last known sighting is Thursday night, all our leads are going cold.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, it was a long shot to begin with.” When he gave the case to Danny, Frank knew that there was a good chance that he wasn’t going to succeed, and he knows that Danny was aware of that possibility from the beginning too, but that doesn’t mean Danny’s going to be okay with it.

“We’ll keep going until we find him, or have some confirmation that he’s moved on out of the city but…” Danny trails off and pulls his cell phone, which has just started to ring, out of his pocket. “Hold that thought, it’s Rogers.” He walks over into the foyer to talk on the phone for a minute, and when he gets back he looks - well not quite happy, but like he’s heard some news he wanted to hear.

“They have a new development?” Frank guesses.

“Uh, not on the Barnes case. I asked them to do a little looking into what we found out about Joe, and Rogers called Natasha Romanoff herself, she got something.”

“We’d better get everybody else in here.” Frank says, and he and Danny go and gather the rest of the family, except for Jack and Sean who are upstairs playing video games.

“What’d you need to tell us?” Jamie asks Danny once they’re all there.

“Well, I finally got a name on the guy Malevsky was taking orders from. Brett Holtkamp. Apparently he had a hand in a bunch of different Hydra operations, including a plan in the works that was going to deal a major blow to the Atlanta police department. There’s evidence that there was going to be a similar operation in New York, but it was scrapped after our takedown of the Blue Templar.”

“Is there enough to charge him?” Nicky asks, prompting a bit of an admonishing look from her mother, but Danny goes ahead and answers the question.

“Yeah, Nicky, but there’s not going to be charges because he was found dead the day after the document leak. Self-imposed cyanide poisoning.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence, which Frank eventually breaks by saying, “Well, at least now we know.”

“Who’d you get this from, anyway, Danny?” Jamie asks. Danny looks to Frank, and then to Henry, since the three of them and maybe Linda are the only ones who know what Danny’s been working on the last few days.

“Go ahead,” Frank says.

“Alright, don’t spread this around, but my partner and I have been working with Steve Rogers and his friend Sam Wilson for the last few days.”

“No kidding,” Erin laughs. “Working on what?”

“Looking for Rogers’ long lost best friend.” Danny answers.

“Bucky’s in New York?” Nicky says.

“Well, he was in New York for a few days last week, at least, we’re not sure if he’s still here or not.”

“And you get to be the one who helps them look, lucky you,” Erin teases.

“Uh, Danny…” Jamie says hesitantly. They all look over at him, and Frank notes that he looks a little shocked, or maybe nauseous.

“What is it, kid?” Danny says, now concerned.

“I think I screwed up.”

“Screwed up what?”

“He was in Brooklyn Heights yesterday.”

“You know this because…  _ you saw him? _ ”

Jamie gulps. “Twice.”

Sensing that this is a conversation that no longer needs an audience, Erin says something about finishing up dinner, and Nicky, Linda, and Pop follow her out of the room. Once it’s just Danny, Jamie, and Frank again, Danny says, “You’re sure?”

“Yeah, pretty sure. I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out before, he was even wearing one glove, must’ve been to cover up his metal hand. And he said something about a Steve, looking for him. I’m sorry, Danny.”

“No, I’m sorry, I should have looped you in, we even had a good idea that he might be headed to Brooklyn Heights. Where and when exactly did you see him?”

“The first time was about six yesterday morning, he was in the alley outside my building, I tried talking to him and he ran away. Then Eddie and I went looking after our tour-”

“You brought your rookie partner?”

“Danny…” Frank warns, because Danny’s starting to sound exasperated.

“She’s the only partner I’ve got.” Jamie says, reacting to the implication that he shouldn’t have brought Eddie because she’s a rookie. “We spotted him at about 8:30 at, uh, Hicks and Pierrepont. I went around the block to try and cut him off, but he spotted Eddie following him and confronted her.”

“Is she okay?” Danny asks.

“Yeah, they just talked. He thought that maybe she was working with Steve, who I guess we now know is Steve Rogers. When I got there, he said he’s leaving the city, and he ran away again.”

“And you didn’t call it in either time?”

“No, I didn’t think I needed to, I just thought he was some homeless veteran who didn’t want my help.”

Danny sighs. “Okay.”

“Well,” Frank says, “I expect Rogers and Wilson are going to want to hear everything. Do you think Eddie would be able to come by here after Sunday dinner?”

“Sure, I’ll call her.”

“Just tell her I want to talk about yesterday, huh?” Danny says. “I’ll call Rogers back.”

****************

Now that the cat’s out of the bag about Danny’s case everybody’s excited to talk about it throughout dinner, and especially Jack and Sean are excited to know that Captain America himself is going to be coming by the house later. Well, if she’s being honest with herself, Nicky’s just as excited as her cousins, but she’s trying to exert her position as almost an adult in this family, so at least outwardly she keeps her cool about it.

They’re still sitting around the table, now littered with mostly-empty dessert plates and coffee cups, when there’s a knock at the front door. “Is that Captain America and his friend?” Sean asks, his eyes wide.

“It could be them, Sean, or it could be Officer Janko.” Frank says as he stands up to answer the door.

“Commissioner,” a young female voice - so it is Eddie - says once the door is opened.

“At ease, officer,” Frank says. “Come on in, and don’t be nervous, right now you can think of me as your partner’s father rather than your commissioner.”

“That hardly makes it better, sir.” Eddie says, though there is a hint of humor in her voice when she says it. She follows him into the dining room, and Jamie jumps up to grab her a chair.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” Jamie says to Eddie.

“You mean the case? Or the Sunday dinner?” she answers, prompting smiles from several of the Reagans.

“Hey, Sunday dinner’s not that bad. C’mon, sit down, let me introduce you to everybody,” Jamie says and then starts going around the table. “You’ve met Nicky-”

“Nice to see you again,” Nicky smiles, and Eddie nods and smiles back.

“- Erin, and my dad of course,” Jamie continues. “This is Linda, Danny’s wife, and you know Danny… then Jack and Sean are my nephews, and this is my grandfather Henry. Everybody, my partner Eddie.”

“We’ve heard a lot of good things about you,” Linda tells Eddie.

“There’s still cake if you want a slice,” Jamie offers his partner. “Or if you haven’t eaten yet I can warm you up some pot roast.”

She looks around the table before saying, “no thanks, Reagan, maybe some coffee though.” The pot’s sitting out on the table, and Jack volunteers to run into the kitchen and get her a mug. Just a few more minutes later, there’s another knock at the door.

“Is  _ that  _ Captain America and his friend?” Sean asks again.

“Yeah, it should be this time, kiddo,” Danny says, standing up to answer the door.

“Remember, boys, they’re mostly here to talk to your dad and Jamie and Eddie, and you’ll need to leave them alone while they do that,” Linda tells Jack and Sean. They both nod to show they understand.

“I hope you don’t mind coming in and saying hey to the whole family before we get started,” Danny says in the other room. “My boys probably wouldn’t forgive me if they don’t get to meet you, and actually I’m pretty sure my niece would be just as disappointed.” Nicky feels her face go red, because it’s true.

“Yeah, of course,” says a voice she recognizes as being Steve Rogers, Captain America himself. A few moments later he follows Danny into the dining room and oh boy, Nicky thinks, Captain America is even more attractive in person. Tall, broad-shouldered, and that jaw line… normally she doesn’t talk to people at school about things related to her grandfather and uncles’ jobs, but she’s going to have to tell at least a couple of her friends about this. His friend, or colleague, Sam Wilson is also there, less obviously superhero-ey, but he was the guy with the wings during the incident in D.C. last month, he also has some skills. And yes, while Nicky’s being all teenaged girl about things, he’s also very attractive.

After a few minutes of introductions, Danny, Jamie, Eddie, Sam, and Steve retreat into the living room, and Nicky clears the table with her mom. “Do you think they’re going to find Bucky?” Nicky asks Erin.

“I don’t know. I hope so, it sounds like he’s all alone out there with nowhere to go,” Erin says.

****************

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter, I think.


	5. Chapter 5

Ten days after their post-Sunday-dinner debrief, Steve calls Danny to set up one final meeting. And this time, instead of their usual diner, the meeting’s at the Avengers Tower.

“Why couldn’t we have been meeting here all along?” Baez laments as they walk into the swanky lobby of the building. The two of them go to the lobby’s main desk and the receptionist already knows who they are.

“Come with me, Captain Rogers is expecting you,” she says with a smile. They round a corner toward the elevator bay and Jamie and Eddie are there, in uniform, waiting. “If you’ll come this way, now, officers,” the receptionist says to the two of them, and she takes all four of them to an elevator. The door opens, and then closes again once the four of them walk in, without anyone ever pushing a button.

“Welcome, Detectives Reagan and Baez, and Officers Reagan and Janko,” a robotic voice with a refined English accent greets them as the elevator starts rising.

“I knew that being partnered with the commissioner’s son might get me into some unusual situations,” Eddie remarks, “but this really takes the cake.”

“To be fair, you’re here less because of who Jamie’s family is, and more because he’s a big softy who saw a former assassin and decided he needed help,” Danny says, playfully elbowing Jamie.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Jamie says, but he’s smiling, he knows it’s a compliment.

“Do you think this means they found him?” Eddie wonders.

“Maybe. Or that they have evidence that he’s actually left the city.” The only new lead they’ve had since Eddie and Jamie saw Bucky is that he got on a bus to Staten Island a few hours after that. From there he could have been headed just about anywhere.

The elevator stops on the 77th floor, and Sam’s there to greet them when they step out. He smiles at their impressed facial expressions as they take in the space they’re in, which is even more upscale and high-tech then the lobby. “Yeah, this place takes some getting used to,” he says. “Stark somehow got word that Steve and I were staying in a hotel and insisted that we use Steve’s quarters here instead as long as we’re in the city, so here we are.”

“I take it this isn’t really Steve’s scene,” Baez guesses.

“Not particularly,” Sam confirms. “Come on, Steve’s already in the conference room.” He shows them to a large, glass-walled room with a table that would fit about ten people. Steve’s sitting at the table already, and as soon as Danny sees him he can tell that whatever the reason they’re there, it isn’t great news.

Steve says as the rest of them sit down. “This won’t take long, but I wanted to thank you all in person before we leave the city.”

“So he did skip town,” Danny surmises.

“Unfortunately.” Steve picks ups a tablet from the table in front of him and a few moments later a projection appears on the wall behind him, surveillance footage showing a man who is pretty clearly Bucky, based on the glint of his metal left hand. “This is last night in Dunkirk.”

“He made it to France,” Jamie frowns.

“Yeah. There was a cargo ship that left Bayonne, New Jersey about twenty-four hours after you saw Bucky in Brooklyn Heights,” Steve says. “It made a stop in England before going to Dunkirk, France yesterday. He must have stowed away.”

“I’m sorry,” Jamie says. “We had him right under our thumb, and he slipped away.”

“We’ll just have to go to France and redouble our efforts,” Sam says. “We’re flying to Paris tonight.”

They’ve been mostly done with the case for the last week, spending maybe an hour or two on it a day while also handling other cases, but this officially closes it. “Well, it’s been a pleasure working with you both,” he says. Baez nods in agreement.

“Same here,” says Sam. “I don’t suppose any of the four of you would be interested in taking a leave of absence and going to Europe…?”

Danny laughs. It’s almost tempting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this last chapter was just a little one, but here we go! Thanks for reading! And as far as future installments for this series go... my next step miiiiight be to go re-watch season one of Daredevil.


End file.
